Classic cookbook gets a makeover

The new edition of James Peterson’s classic “Sauces” is one of the cookbooks recommended in the P-I’s annual gift guide this year. It’s the sort of exhaustive and historical tome that’s usually found in restaurant kitchens or on reference shelves — but somehow Peterson, who won a James Beard Award for the first edition in 1991, made it useful for the dedicated home cook as well as the chef. (Mark Bittman said you can take the book to bed with you; Richard Olney made comparisons with Escoffier).

I talked with Peterson by phone from his New York home recently about how he redid the book for today’s cook — including how a professional chef turns himself into a professional food photographer. Peterson did all the lovely color shots that are new to the book (along with added recipes, lighter sauces and more ethnic dishes). Here’s some of what he had to say:

Did he mean “Sauces” for professionals or home cooks? “I meant it for both. The first edition has a voice that’s much more for professional cooks (“stiffer and more formal”), but the second and third, that’s much more of a home cook voice, and (it has) more details that home cooks would need.”

Has the world of cooking changed that much over the years? “One thing that’s changed is that people are able to get meat glazes now, and it makes a lot of these sauces accessible to the amateur cook. That was one reason the first book was so professionally oriented — the sauces, you couldn’t make them unless you made demi-glace, which was a huge weekend project. But you can buy the stuff now, (and it’s) rather good quality. It means any sauce in the book can be made by an amateur now.”

On how the book first came about: “When I was in France, the things that fascinated me were the sauces. That seemed to me the thing that was hard to master, hard to know how to do … that was the natural thing to write about, because I realized people needed help the same way I needed help.” …

The very size of the book can be threatening, though. “I go to book signings, and the books are out, and I see people look at it and go, Whoa! People are intimidated by the whole process, and that’s why I put in recipes that are just recipes. … I would encourage people to think of it as a cookbook, not just as a sauce book.”

Still, he knows it’s not a traditional cookbook. The new edition includes a recipe for roast turkey with jus, gravy or giblet gravy. Peterson said it just occurred to him recently that the recipe “just starts out with ‘Roast the turkey.’ “

“It doesn’t tell you how to roast the turkey. But it tells you what to do once you’ve got the turkey roasted.”

On how he makes the transition from a chef to a cookbook author: “It’s very much like speaking. I just write down what I would (do), explain the step-by-step process or explain what caveats are needed to keep into consideration for doing a dish. I’m at the computer, and I’m cooking it in my mind’s eye. And we test everything.”

On how he made the next transition — to professional food photographer: “There was a lot of audacity involved. I just thought I could do it. … I started out, and I just got totally immersed in it, which is typical of me. When I get involved in (something), it’s all I think about, read about, talk about. I became absorbed in it and wound up taking some classes at the New School and classes up in Maine, and kept working on developing a style. … Now it boils down to having a rather large amount of experience with it — but I enjoy it. It’s a new outlet, a new way of teaching about food.”

On where he photographs his food: “I’m fortunate, because I have a house, a brownstone house with four floors. The third floor is taken over by my studio and kitchen — it has a kitchen and natural light, so I work in there. I live on the two bottom floors, and rent the top floor.”

On why he included historical information on sauce-making through the centuries: “I think creativity and an art form has a lot to do with reflecting on the past.” It can bring on “a lot of information, a lot of inspiration.”